Identifying Reducing Sugars
The disaccharide cellobiose can be obtained by enzyme-catalyzed hydrolysis of cellulose. Do you expect cellobiose to be a reducing or a nonreducing sugar?
ANALYSIS To be a reducing sugar, a disaccharide must contain a hemiacetal group, that is, a carbon bonded to one —OH group and one —OR group. The ring at the right in the structure above has such a group.
Cellobiose is a reducing sugar.